NJ dad trying to get son back from Brazil to testify before congressional human rights panel. A New Jersey man who's been battling in Brazilian courts to get custody of his 9-year-old son is scheduled to testify before a congressional human rights panel in Washington.

W.Va. special session winds down with passage of city pension relief, stimulus bills. Some of West Virginia's largest cities can soon freeze and gradually pay down their daunting pension funding shortfalls, after the House of Delegates sent Gov. Joe Manchin his special session relief proposal Thursday.

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - Swedish police have arrested two North Korean diplomats on suspicion of smuggling 230,000 cigarettes into the Nordic country, the Swedish Customs Office said Friday.

A US judge set February 18 for a hearing on the revised legal settlement between Google and US authors and publishers that would allow the Internet giant to scan and sell millions of books online.

Panel mulling tax changes for W.Va. considers giving more tax flexibility to towns, counties. West Virginia's tax modernization project is back on, but that doesn't mean businesses and individuals should necessarily expect lower taxes in the near future.

Wis. law firm sues rival over search-engine keywords; suit based on privacy law, not trademark. A lawsuit in Wisconsin is bringing a fresh challenge to the practice of paying for keywords on Google and other search engines to boost one company's link over a rival's.

New wrinkle in insider-trading probe of Pequot hedge fund raises questions on SEC case. A new development related to the government's investigation of possible insider trading at a major hedge fund has raised questions in the case and caught the attention of two key senators.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The chairman of the U.S. House Armed Services Committee, Representative Ike Skelton, cast doubt on Friday about the Obama administration's decision to try the September 11, 2001, conspirators in a U.S. criminal court.

Argentina's Congress approves forced extraction of DNA from suspected dirty war orphans. Valuing truth over the right to privacy, Argentina's Congress has authorized the forced extraction of DNA from people who may have been born to political prisoners slain a quarter-century ago ? even when they don't want to know their birth parents.

Obama: US diversity strength to country, cites women's rights key to nations' successes. President Barack Obama says one of the United States' strengths is its diversity and a family gathering in his home "looks like the United Nations."

Calif. lawyers reap financial benefits from voting rights law they wrote. Every lawsuit filed or even threatened under a California law aimed at electing more minorities to local offices ? and all of the roughly $4.3 million from settlements so far ? can be traced to just two people: a pair of attorneys who worked together writing the statute, The Associated Press has found.

Former Michael Jackson doctor due in Vegas court after falling behind on $14K child support. A lawyer for the physician being investigated in Michael Jackson's death says he'll ask a judge in Las Vegas to let his client make minimum child support payments for now, because he can't get work.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States will attend an International Criminal Court (ICC) meeting this week as an observer for the first time since the Hague court was set up in 2002, President Barack Obama's war crimes envoy said Monday.

Official says US to attend annual war crimes court meeting as observer for first time. The United States will attend an annual meeting of the International Criminal Court, a body it has so far refused to participate in, the U.S. envoy for war crimes said Monday.

NAIROBI (Reuters) - The United States wants Kenya to hand over a Rwanda genocide suspect it believes the east African nation has been harboring for years, President Barack Obama's war crimes envoy said on Monday.

As a first step towards winding up its presence in Sierra Leone, the UN backed Special Court on Sierra Leone on Monday turned over its jail to the government, which will make it a women's prison.

Sudanese parties on Monday condemned abuses in voter registrations for the first multi-party elections in 24 years set for April, calling for the enrolment period to be extended.

Beazer CEO could face government 'claw back' of incentive compensation; SEC urges civil action. Federal regulators may try to collect bonus money awarded to the top executive of Beazer Homes USA Inc. covering periods when the homebuilder restated financial results.

Buenos Aires marriage license is a first for same-sex couples in Latin America. Two men were granted a marriage license in Argentina's capital on Monday, breaking ground in a country and region where laws ban gay marriage.

Latin America's first gay marriage will be held on World AIDS Day on December 1, the Argentine couple, who are both HIV positive, said Monday.